where do you get tips and ideas for your scenes ?

[Aymerik]

Hi. I want to improve my scenes, trying to do the same scenes that sometimes i see during real concerts/live/shows...
But do you know if there is somewhere a "bible" of the most classic scenes to educate me and show me nice moves to setup on my spot lights ?
I heard on a podcast that some light designers created some classic setups. Inspiring all the industry.
So these theories must have been wrote somewhere, or showed on vidéos ?

[thorehl]

I don't think there are any classic setups out there. We all do have a showfile that we start any show with. How you lay out your showfile is up to you. But everything depends on the light package you can work with. Bar / Club / Consert-venues / Festivals / Stadiums don't work the same way. Some places you bring your own gear, some venues have some lights, but not complete. Some have low ceilings, some high. Some stages are really small, like 3 x 2m (9 x 6ft) and others are huge.

So I can only speak on behalf of my self.
1. I can only use what I have in the inventory (Word of wisdom: Use what you have, not what you want)
2. Grouping fixtures on the floor/truss gives less effect than having them spread out (unless your doing BIG rigs)

With those 2 in mind, I normally start with stage wash.
They need to be positioned evenly side to side, front to back to get the best coverage. Sidenote. I only want wash ON the stage, not outside. On a low budget, I tend to light up surfaces that reflect light, getting more out of one or more fixtures.
Color presets. Red, green, blue, cyan, magenta/pink, purple. If fixtures are RGBW, I also create Light red, light green... and so on.

Moving on to beams.
Don't! To little output, to little effect. A spot light fixture is way better. Where beams fixtures normally have a light barrel at about 12-18cm (5-7 inches) and what 2-6 degrees spread, a spot fixture can usually do 18-40 degrees without prism, giving a lot more aerial effect. A way bigger barrel of light doing visual stuff.

Color presets. Bright colors. Yellow, cyan, light green and so on.. Color matched with the wash fixtures if possible.
Beam presets. The standard stuff really. X's, W's, II's, audiens blinding, fan out and fan inn, and so on..
Movement. Std here as well. Cartwheel left & right w/o Shift. Circle left & right w/o Shift. Up/down w/o Shift. - All linked to Master speed slider
Effects. Rainbow, color swap w/o beat sync, strobing (s,m,fast), pulse, ramp, sinus.
Shutter/Dimmers. On/off w/o beat sync, puls, ramp, sinus.

When it comes to your Subject question, I tend to get inspired by the big names you can find anywhere on Insta, Youtube, TikTok... But when it comes to learning, I've gotten the most out of EventElevator on YouTube (external link). They interview the leading tech's out there, and most of the time, you get fair insight into how they work, and with what.

And I do like the comment Kiss's lighting engineer used; "Just because a movinghead can move, doesn't mean it has to". It all depends on what your lighting.

But my 2 cents are: You're hired to highlight the talent, NOT show everyone what a good programmer you are.

[Aymerik]

But my 2 cents are: You're hired to highlight the talent, NOT show everyone what a good programmer you are.

Yes, I knew that rule

Thanks a LOT for you post, and all the details you gave.
I will read again it, to setup with my fixtures and your tips, something cool.
And I will let you know what i found

You know, it would be so great to have somewhere on screen (a draw, a screenshot..) of typical setups.
For a LIVE, you could have this version, this version... And then you can add other fixtures on it.

I will try and show you.

[thorehl]

The most typical light plot I get is this one:



A part from the Par cans, this has what most bands use today.
Aura for wash
Viper for aerial effects
Atomic strobes
Blinders
And Fresnels for front lighting.

But for the below festival, we didn't have a budget (thx Covid) for Martin fixtures and fancy Atomic 3000 strobes, so we went with what we got.
(8x) BSL-Lighting MagicZoom 19 wash (6 in truss, 2 in front L/R)
(4x) Chauvet Rouge R1 Spots
(6x) Showtec 2-light blinders
(4x) BeamZ 1500W strobes
(2x) Fresnel 650W front lighting
(2x) Source 4 jr. 650W front lighting

[support]

Thank you very much Thore for sharing your experience.

[Aymerik]

Yes thank you very much too !
So helpfull.

I don't know if it exists, but a webiste like a database of many setups.
To help beginers to try different kind of setups, and experts to challenge themselves.

I imagine that each one has its own secrets.
But i think too that there is some basics, and it could help the industry to display them somewhere.
To help the most all users of light softwares to bring the maximum value to their clients.
So it could be initiated by a software company, no ?


I would be ok to take part of if.